Santa Claus (a/k/a Hunter Bennett) and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (a/k/a Daniel Lesher), at top, raced the Tarkio Elementary students around the track in a Reindeer Run Friday, December 13, 2019.

Rolen Lahart won the younger kids’ race.

Winners of the older kids’ race in the Reindeer Run were Maddox Person, 1st;  Bailey Wennihan, 2nd; and Chase Pearson, 3rd.

Talk about a great time and lots of laughs! The Tarkio Elementary students raced Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer around the track behind the school in the Reindeer Run Friday, December 13. Despite the cold temperatures, almost everyone started out sprinting and with smiles on their faces, but they quickly discovered that Santa and Rudolph are actually cross country runners (they looked a lot like high schoolers Hunter Bennett and Daniel Lesher) and could easily defeat them. However, Tarkio Elementary has some fast little runners who, in the end, crossed the finish line first. Of course, Santa and the Reindeer, being the kind-hearted, jolly old souls that they are, might have let up a bit on their sprints.

Rolen Lahart was the first place winner in the younger kids’ race and Maddox Pearson, Bailey Wennihan, and Chase Pearson finished in first, second, and third place respectively in the older kids’ race.

The kids were originally scheduled to run a Turkey Trot around Thanksgiving, but that event was canceled due to the weather. Hopefully, next year’s weather will cooperate.